On Wednesday, 10:00am Leonard Spears and Wells Fargo will appear in State Supreme Court in front of Judge Bellini at the Hall of Justice. Judge Bellini has ordered that the eviction be halted and that Wells Fargo must show cause for what appears to be fraudulent foreclosure. Leonard Spears made local andnational headlines in May when he announced that he would not be leaving his home at 26 Ries St., Rochester, NY (see Video, Democrat and Chronicle, Daily Record). Given the level fraud (Wells Fargo not even owning the mortgage when they foreclosed) support for Mr. Spears has flooded in from all over country including a solidarity action at the Freddie Mac headquarters in Washingon, D.C.

Despite 10-12 attempts at a mortgage modification, Wells Fargo refused to negotiate with Leonard and instead asked him to continually resubmit the same paperwork. In order to take his home as quickly as possible Wells Fargo never personally served Leonard the Summons and Complaint for the foreclosure action, denying him proper recourse to defend his home in court. Instead Wells Fargofabricated the paperwork saying they served Leonard and claiming he was up to 6 feet tall with black, brown, and blond hair! Unfortunately for Wells Fargo, Leonard is about 5'6'', bald and has never had blond or brown hair. In a further stroke of fraud, lawyers for Wells Fargo reveal that their client didn't own the mortgage or notewhen they foreclosed on Leonard Spears giving them zero legal standing to foreclose in the first place. To add insult to injury, when Wells Fargo foreclosed on Mr. Spears, they sold his house to Freddie Mac for $500. Now Wells Fargo has to justify its foreclosure practices in court. Leonard Spears and Take Back the Land Rochester demand that Wells Fargo withdraw the foreclosure and for Freddie Mac to donate the house to the Rochester Community Land Trust, where Mr. Spears can stay in his house and keep it permanently affordable.